Reader’s letter to the City of Oceanside Regarding Damaged Bike Lanes

Bike San Diego reader, Andrew Parish, wrote letting us know of his efforts to get the city of Oceanside to place signage alerting motorists to the presence of bicyclists who would be riding the lane on Oceanside Boulevard while the bike lanes get resurfaced. A copy of his letter (dated February 25, 2010) and the City’s response is pasted below in its entirety.

I congratulate the City of Oceanside on its recent distinction from the League of American Bicyclists for the quality of its bike infrastructure. But it is precisely because of the City’s obvious awareness of bicycling as a form of  transportation that the current state of Oceanside Boulevard is totally inexcusable. Despite the high speed of traffic along this arterial road I have felt relatively safe because of its long and visible bike lane. Now, the sides of the road are scored in such a way as to make them entirely unridable, requiring cyclists to position themselves well into the rightmost lane. I understand that this state is probably a precursor to improved bike lanes, but there is absolutely no signage, at least on the  eastbound side, indicating to drivers that bicycles may need to share more of the right lane than usual during construction. While using this road Wednesday afternoon, I felt that such a sign would have encouraged a little more awareness and caution in the aggressive motorists I encountered. For a designated “Bicycle Friendly Community,” I think this lack of signage is unconscionable and ask that you put out some “Share the Road” signs before someone gets hurt.
Sincerely,

Andrew Parish

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Mr. Parish:

I want to thank you for your recent e-mail.  I have forwarded your e-mail on to the project manager overseeing the resurfacing project and requested that he make the necessary changes concerning advance warning signs for both bicyclist and autos.  Please let me know if we can be of further assistance.

David DiPierro
City Traffic Engineer
City of Oceanside
760-435-5114
ddipierro@ci.oceanside.ca.us

If any of you readers find yourself in Oceanside, please check to ensure that some sort of signage has been placed. If not, we encourage you to contact the city to do so.